Reason to Live
by EKL22
Summary: The only thing that pushes Soli to go on is her best friend Mark. He helps her get through each and everyday. But as the reaping goes awry, Mark does the only thing he can to assure she's protected, he volunteers as male tribute.
1. Chapter 1

Tears silently streamed down my face as District 7 faded over the horizon line. I hoped no one would notice me but alas, I could only hope. I looked up at the 18 year-old boy from my district. He knelt to be level with my eyes as I sat in a chair and brushed my tears away before embracing me. I immediately started sobbing loudly into his chest, as if on cue.

His name was Mark. He was tall and muscular with dark hair and eyes. I had only known him a few years but I might as well have known him my whole life. At least that's what it felt like anyway. He was always there when I needed him and I felt I owed him some sort of gratitude. Every time I mentioned this to him, he waved it off, telling me there was no need to repay him. And now he was practically sacrificing his life for me.

The reaping had obviously not gone well for me. My name had been picked from a ball. No one would dare volunteer and I wouldn't blame them, that would be crazy. Mark did the only thing he could to protect me. He volunteered for male tribute. I could have killed him then and there. How foolish he was in doing this. I didn't need him there with me, I needed him at home, where I knew he'd be safe. I loved him.

I was leaving five siblings at home. All of who had counted on me to feed them and protect them everyday. Who would help them now? My parents were dead and gone, killed in a forest fire. I was gifted in medicine and healing and healed many of those caught in the blaze, including Mark. That was almost two years ago, I was a frightened 14 year-old girl who was insensitive to death and blood. I assume this is why Mark won't let me repay him, I saved his life. He only thought it right to protect me in these games.

My parents being dead, and given me time to grieve with my siblings, I had to find a way, although almost impossible, to move on. Becoming the town healer was what kept my mind off of things except for the games and what I'd do if I or my siblings were reaped. As I helped people, they gave me food or game to cook. This is how I kept myself and brothers and sister alive. Now they didn't even have me.

I cried silently as I said goodbye to all of them, I hugged them all, and told them they'd be taken cared of. I lied and told them everything would be okay when our world was crashing down around us. My neighbors said that they'd check in on them and makes sure they ate something. And now, I was on a train speeding ever closer to my fate.

Mark and I sat in silence on the couch. I stared blankly at the dark TV screen, not acknowledging my reflection. I felt Mark grab my hand and squeeze it gently. He had a way of calming me down, of giving me false sense of security. But a false sense of security was just as good as feeling safe right now.

Dinner was extremely quiet. I hadn't felt like eating, even though I was wasting away to practically nothing. I knew how to be hungry. If food was scarce at home, I'd give all of it to my siblings and I'd chew on bark or grass to hold me over. I knew how to identify plants, poison was easy to spot for me after working for so long at it. Our escort had bright green hair (a wig, I suspected), she also had a very pale and powdery face. I believe her name was Gemma.

Gemma glanced over at me, pushing my capitol delicacy around on the plate. She looked astonished that I wasn't eating, as if refusing food was a sin in the capitol. It was more of sin at home, when you didn't know when your next meal would be or even if you would get a next meal.

"Sweetheart, you must eat _something_," She insisted, "Try some of the beef stew, it's delicious!"

I dipped my spoon into some of the broth and sipped it to satisfy her. I cringed at her capitol accent and attitude. I didn't like to be told what to do.

"I'm not very hungry." I stated.

I was about to say something more rude, and perhaps Mark noticed this. Just as I was about to speak again, I felt him grab my hand again and gave a gentle yet firm squeeze. I held my tongue. I had no right to be rude. These people had done nothing wrong to me. I told myself I'd try to be less critical from this point on.

Later on, I had finished my dinner besides not being hungry. Everyone had left the table leaving Mark and I alone. I realized we hadn't spoken once since we left home. I looked up at him, he was much taller than me, even when we were seated.

"Why did you do it? Why did you volunteer?" I asked

"I still owe you for saving my life two years ago." He replied, "I couldn't let you die. I felt I had to protect you."

"You don't owe me anything, Mark. Why did you do this to yourself? What if your efforts are lost? What if we both die?" I started panicking, my chest felt tight and I felt strangled of air.

"I'll make sure you don't die. I promise you."

"But that means you're left for dead. What am I without you? I won't be able to function. I might as well die in the Hunger Games. Because if I win, that means you're gone, and what better than dead does that make me? My family is as good as dead whether I get out alive or not. Because I won't have you with me everyday! I need you at home more than you'll ever know..." I stood up and walked to my compartment.

I hadn't so much as glanced backward to catch Mark's reaction, I hadn't even waited for a response. I didn't need him to answer me, I just needed him to listen. It never hurt to just hear someone out. I fell onto my bed and wept into my pillow, hoping I'd just suffocate. This was by far the worst day of my life, someone I loved, who was not family, had done something so foolish to save me. Even though he wouldn't know it, he would be volunteering for a lost cause. I was dead without him.

* * *

**So, I was thinking to myself the other day about writing a fanfiction about the YouTuber, MarkiplierGAME. This guys is absolutely hilarious even though this is sort of a somber story. There is a lot of symbolism in this story, seeing as Mark helps the main character, who's name is Soli, (I know, I didn't mention it in this chapter) her name means alone, like a lot of Markiplier's fans feel somethimes. Mark helps his fans feel better and to some, he's the only thing they have to hang onto in life. The holding of hands symbolizes how Mark helps us through our rough days and he is like the promise of a new day to us. Anyway, thank you for reading! I'll try to update soon! MARKIPLITES UNITE!**


	2. Chapter 2

**w**I had kept my door locked and my mouth shut for the rest of the night on the train. I was truly embarassed by my words. Hopefully Mark had not caught on to how I truly felt about him. I was mad that he thought he owed this to me. I wouldn't wish for my worst enemy to be reaped. Mark was stupid for volunteering just for me, I wasn't that special.

I refrained from even breathing in Mark's direction when we arrived in the Capitol. I could feel him watching me, I could almost hear his judgmental thoughts. Perhaps I was being paranoid, maybe he even felt bad for doing this. When we parted for prep he turned and gave me a friendly hug, which I half-heartedly returned. I knew he'd never love me like I loved him. His hug made me feel kind of better, because it told me he was still there for me.

Preparation violated me in many ways. They scrubbed my naked body raw. My skin was bright red by the time they were done exfoliating it. Next, my team start plucking splinters out of my hands that I had recieved from climbing trees in my younger days. I was starting to think that this was the worst possible part of the games.

I sat in a quiet room for awhile until I finally met my stylist. Her name was Pepper. Pepper had the brightest hue of red hair imaginable and she had crystal clear blue eyes. She was very pretty compared to me. I felt ruddy and insecure with her in the room. Pepper had been the most normal person I had seen during my short time here in the Capitol.

"Hello." She greeted, smiling earnestly at me, "My name is Pepper, and I'm your stylist." Instead of greeting me with a formal handshake, Pepper greeted me with a friendly hug. She definitely didn't seem like she was from the Capitol.

"Hello." I replied, "I'm Soli and..um..I'm your tribute..?" I didn't know how to respond to Pepper's friendliness.

She gave a small laugh, "I know who you are. No need to introduce yourself, sweetie."

I gave a light smile, that faded back into a face that lacked of any expressions at all. Pepper started walking around me, surveying my features, trying and failing to make me feel any less uncomfortable. She ran her fingers through my hair and sighed happily as she let it fall back into place.

"I absolutely love your hair. Everything about it is perfect. Not too thick, not too thin. Amazing color. Great texture." Pepper probably would not be saying this if she had seen me before I was violated with soaps and perfumes of all kinds. I always hated my orange hair color, and as for texture, it was always rough and I pulled it back from my face. Pepper rambled on and on about how naturally beautiful I was. I hadn't liked looking at my reflection because I reminded myself too much of my parents. I never liked seeing how I truly looked. I was always bony and tired and expressionless. I was nothing much to look at.

As for the rest of the time, I wasn't paying attention to what anyone was saying to me. I was just sitting motionless as make up was applied to my face and body. My hair was being pulled in every direction, but I didn't care. All that was on my mind was Mark. I needed his company desperately, I wanted to hear his voice. No matter how mad I was at him, I could never forget how much I actually cared about him. I had to find a way to get both of us out alive.

After my prep team was done prodding and poking at me it was time to get ready for the tribute parade. We were offered a buffet, from which I only ate a roll of bread, I was too sick to eat anything else. I did not want to face the brainwashed people of the Capitol. They didn't know any better, they'd never have to face the fear of losing children or siblings to these cruel games. They'd never have to worry about losing the one thing they cared about more than their own life itself.

As soon as I spotted Mark, I ran to him and practically tackled him to the ground. I just hugged him in silence as I felt another round of tears come on. Mark wrapped his arms around me, returning the hug. I was crying so loudly that I had caught the attention of several tributes who were standing near by to us. As soon as I composed myself, I pulled away and looked into Mark's eyes.

"I'm so sorry I acted so bitter on the way here. I should be grateful that I have a friend like you. You were only trying to keep me alive because I saved you. And you thought that by saving me you'd be saving more people but you'd really just be indirectly killing me. I'm sorry-" I was shocked when I felt Mark's lips meet mine for a few moments, he pulled away from me and acted as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

Mark just smirked down at me, "You talk too much. Apology accepted."

I blushed and felt extremely uncomfortable. My face burned with embarassment, shock, and anger. How could he do something like that at a time like this? Part of me loved him for making this joke and part of me loathed him for doing it in such a place. He had never ever kissed me to shut me up. He'd always push his index finger to my mouth or cover it with his whole hand while he laughed and told me to stop rambling. When he had kissed me, it felt as if he was mocking my feelings for him.

"Oh c'mon," He poked my sides as he saw my face, "I was just messing around."

"How can you joke like that right now? If we were at home in my backyard, I wouldn't mind so much, but we're not at home. There are people here, and we aren't here on a date." I sounded whiny, but that's not how I imagined my first kiss. I definitely wouldn't have expected to get my first kiss right before the some of the worst possible moments of my life either.

"I'm sorry," Mark apologized, "I realized that probably wasn't the most appropriate thing to do right now. I'm sorry if I embarassed you or hurt your feelings."

I shrugged and pulled my arms close to my chest. The tribute parade was a blur really, the only thing I remember is Mark having to hold onto me because I felt as if I were about to fall out of the chariot. He hugged me tight and close, which surely gave us some good attention from the people of the Capitol.

After the parade, we returned to our rooms. I showered for what seemed like hours, trying to scrub every last bit of make up from my body. For awhile, I just sat on my bed and thought. I thought about home, my family, my friends. It pained me greatly to think about what I'd be leaving behind and the kind of grief, if any, that I'd cause. It was at this point that my mentor, a woman of about 34, knocked on my door and invited herself in.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Malory asked me, I shrugged in return, "I saw what happened before the parade."

"It was nothing, really.." I mumbled looking at the floor.

"Are you sure about that? You seemed pretty upset."

"I was, but I'm okay now. I just, I don't know how I feel about possibly leaving him behind. He came to make sure I'd go home but I don't want to go home without him."

Malory sighed and rubbed my arm, "We'll figure something out, I promise. Now, off to bed, big day ahead of you tomorrow."

I said good night to everyone, including Mark. And laid in my bed, it was very quiet compared to all the celebrations going on earlier that day. It was too quiet to sleep. I was overthinking everything, perhaps I was mistaking Mark's feelings for insensitivity. Maybe he was just insane enough to fall for a girl like me. We needed to stick together to survive for as long as possible. Whether he loved me or not, he needed me just as much as I needed him. And just before I fell asleep that night, I saw the sun of a new day arising.r

* * *

**Hey everybody! Thanks for reading my second chapter! I hope you enjoyed it! I apologize if this chapter isn't very exciting, I promise it'll get more interesting as time goes on, I have some more things planned out for later, I don't want to cram every one of my ideas into the first few chapters or else I'd have no story to write. There will be more to come in the future, so stick around! Thanks for reading! :) **


	3. Chapter 3

A few hours after I had fallen asleep, I was awakened by banging at my door. It was undoubtedly Gemma waking up her tributes for the big day ahead of them. Breakfast was torture. I could barely hear myself think over Malory, my mentor, and Sedrick, Mark's mentor bickering over strategies. It didn't take me long to figure out that they were a married couple.

Yet again, I was too sick to eat. I couldn't eat anyway, knowing that my siblings were at home, probably starving and wasting away to nothing. After awhile of just staring at my plate of food, I dismissed myself from the table without a word. Today I would reserve myself in front of the other tributes, I would not show my strengths or weaknesses. It was decided that Mark and I should split up during training and learn as much at a few stations as we could, then relay information to each other. This is how we could trust each other in the arena, how we could keep each other alive.

I once again showered and dressed in my training uniform. I pulled my hair back, away from my face and I walked out into our temporary living space. Once everyone was ready, Mark and I were escorted down to the training center. All of the tributes filed in and around a woman who would give us rules and tips for survival.

"Hello, and congratulations on being tributes in this year's Hunger Games. You should feel highly honored that you are here. First I must warn you, fighting with other tributes before the Games is not permitted and will result in drastic punishment. While some of you will die from fatal wounds, a majority of you will die from sickness, starvation or dehydration. It is important that you spend time in all stations of training, not just weaponry, and make sure you pick up all you can about survival. You may begin training."

I started out with plant identification, something I was good at, but there were quite a few plants I was unfamiliar with, most of them poisonous if eaten. I also worked in camouflage, trapping, and basic survival skill. I didn't even want to look at the weapons, I couldn't remember the last time I had thrown an ax at a tree. I was probably a little rusty considering I wasn't working in the lumber industry, I was a healer, I knew my way around an operating table.

By the time lunch came, I was starting to feel a bit peckish. Mark and I had secluded ourselves at a table and we spoke in low voices as we ate. We shared information about the stations we visited and spoke about other tributes. We were attracting a few stares from careers, who were either eyeing us as allies or enemies. There was an awkward silence between us, which was rare because we always had something to say to one another.

Mark finally broke in, "Soli, I am really sincerely sorry about what I did last night. I hope you weren't too upset with me. I was just trying to lighten the mood, I didn't know I'd make you so angry."

I shrugged it off, "It's okay, I guess I kind of overreacted. I mean, who wouldn't want you to kiss them?" I let a small smile cross my lips.

He laughed lightly, "Obviously you didn't." He joked as he touched my nose

"No more fighting?"

"No more." I smiled, it was good to have my friend back. And for a moment, I had completely forgotten the predicament we were both in. He had made me feel so happy and relieved that I had forgotten the whole world around me.

The next few days had gone well. Mark and I had really gotten to know all of the stations inside and out. I had finally picked up and thrown an ax. I wasn't too bad, I had hit the target quite a few times. I didn't spend a lot of time at it since our strategy didn't depend upon killing others. Our strategy was based on killing if only absolutely necessary. We hadn't made any allies, it was useless, you had to turn against them at some point. Mark and I had planned out to split up when there were eight people left, that is, if we were still alive at that point. However, we abandoned that plan, and decided to stick together from the get go. I needed his protection, and he needed my healing.

The time had come to show off our abilities. I had scored a 7 and Mark a 9, which was not bad at all for two kids from District 7. We had not spoken of what we did to recieve our scores, only our mentors knew what each had done. I had identified all of the arena plants in under 30 seconds, which impressed most of the gamemakers, but it wasn't over the top impressive.

Interviews were creeping closer and closer every second, I could barely walk in high heels. Gemma was becoming frustrated because I could not grasp the concept of being ladylike. When Pepper established that I would not being wearing heels, I was relieved. That was just one less thing I had to worry about, falling on stage in front of the whole of Panem would make me seem clumsy. This would not get me any sponsors, because everyone knows that a clumsy tribute is a dead tribute.

Yet again, my prep team washed my body and tugged at my hair. I wasn't complaining, I did not want pity and I flat out told my prep team not to feel sorry. They pulled my hair into a neat bun on the back of my head. A few strands hung in front of my face and were curled into bouncy little tundrils of orange hair. My dress was simple yet was extremely sparkly. I looked at what I thought had been sequins, but as I looked closer, I relized they were tiny diamond shaped mirrors.

My team helped me dress into the sparkling dress and gave me silver gladiator sandals that wrapped up to my knees. The dress fell just to my mid thigh, and gave me the feeling of being extremely exposed. My team had put mascara on my eyelashes and had put a subtle silver eyeshadow on my eyelids. Pepper looked me over one last time as she approved my look.

"Do you know the inspiration I had behind your dress?" She asked me.

"No," I shook my head.

"This whole time you were here, I've seen so much of myself in you. I've seen so much of everyone in you. Does that makes sense?"

I nodded in response.

"I know that if people knew what you felt on a daily basis, they could relate. So now, when people look at you in this dress of mirrors, people will be able to see a tiny bit of themselves in you. You will represent all of the people of Panem. We have faith in you. And if everyone sees a part them in you, I know they'll have faith in you too."

I was moved, rendered speechless by this beautiful explanation. It's almost as if Pepper could see me picking out my flaws when I had first met her. She knew from the start that I was countering her every compliment in my head with something to down myself even further. This taught that for every negative I saw in myself, others had seen 10 positives. I smiled at her and gave her the biggest hug I had ever given anyone.

I walked out of my room and saw Mark's jaw physically drop. I blushed a bit, I wasn't used to being gawked at by men. Mark came over to me and hugged me, he looked quite handsome himself. We exchanged comments on each other's looks and outfits before we were rushed off to interviews.

Years could have passed and I would not have known it. Everything was going so fast, I dreaded going on stage for Caesar to interview me. He would be out there with me, but _everyone_ in Panem was watching. It was nerve-wrecking. It was rather humorous that I could handle blood, gore, burns, and death, but I couldn't talk in front of people to save my life.

It was soon my turn. When my name was announced I walked out and greeted by cheers and bright lights. There were people as far as I could see. It was refreshing to sit down and take it all in as I tried to calm myself down from all of the Capitol's excitement. Once everyone was quieted down, Caesar turned to me an dsmiled widely.

"Soli, you look stunning. And I absolutely adore your name."

"Thank you." I smiled subtly

"You're very welcome," He replied, "So, tell us please, we're all dying to know, what makes you you?"

I thought for a moment, "Could we start with an easier question?" I joked, the audience broke out into laughter.

Caesar chuckled for a moment, "Okay, well, how about your family, what are they like?"

I knew this question would be coming sooner or later, "Well, I had five siblings that I take care of by myself, my parents died in a forest fire when I was fourteen." I heard 'aww' and 'oh' repeated throughout the audience, "And the boy who volunteered to be here with me, he's almost like a part of my family, it's really hard to explain."

Caesar frowned a little, "Oh, that's very tough. Do you feel prepared for the Games?"

I shrugged, "I honestly don't know what to expect. I don't think anyone could ever be prepared for the things that happen in an arena. Yeah, training helps you survive longer, but there's always that threat of the unexpected."

Caesar nodded as he listened, "Very well stated. Unfortunately we are out of time. Let's here it for Soli!" The crowd erupted into applause as I made my way off of the stage. I didn't feel confident that I'd get any sponsors for that.

Mark, however, had the most amazing voice and was gifted in getting people to like him. Caesar introduced him and they got right into their interview after he was given applause.

"So, Mark, how are you liking the Capitol so far?" Caesar asked.

"It's amazing really. I think it's beautiful here and it's so interesting seeing all the people and bright colors. I was in awe when I first saw it. However, it's not District 7, I love it here don't get me wrong, but it just isn't home." Mark replied

"Ah yes, home sweet home. And the girl from your district, Soli, she mentioned you as part of her family but she couldn't explain. Can you do some justice to it?" Caesar inquired, the audience was on the edge of their seats. I could feel a lie coming on, Mark was going to lie and say something incredibly insane, and the audience would just eat it up. I just wasn't prepared for what he was about to say.

Mark sighed, "Well, Soli saved my life two years ago. I got caught in the same forest fire as her parents and was burned very severely. I was practically on death's door and she healed me. She made me better. I think I helped heal her as well. We've been best friends ever since. It's why I volunteered, I felt I needed to repay her for all she's done for me. I wanted, no, _had_ to protect her. She counts me as part of her family because, well...we're married."

I could have fainted. I might as well have because I couldn't remember anything else. My heart was beating a mile a second, we had not discussed this as part of our strategy. And even if we had, I wouldn't have let him go through with it. The tears came again, this time I ran right to our living space before all of the interviews were over. I wasn't mad, I was just overwhelmed. I guess my running off would play into me grieving over the imminent death of myself and "husband". I could actually feel the audience pitying us, I would have to thank Mark for this, because this would definitely get us sponsors. I would just have to play along with it until the very end. Only in my wildest dreams was I ever married to Mark. I loved him dearly, but I would never make him pretend to love me, that would only hurt the both of us. I just didn't want him to be unhappy.

* * *

**Hey everyone, thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I know it got pretty similar to Catching Fire towards the end, but the rest really isn't that similar. Thank you again for taking the time to read this, I really appreciate it! Stick around, there's more to come :)**


	4. Chapter 4

I had rushed to the elevator, and rapidly pressed the "up" button. I wanted to go to my room. I wanted to cry in peace. I wanted to be somewhere where Mark and I wouldn't have to worry if we would be meeting face-to-face for the last time. I longed for District 7, I needed my bed, where each night, 5 little bodies would slide in around me in an attempt at gaining security.

I pressed the number 7 as soon as the elevator opened and ascended to our temporary living space. I dashed to my room and threw myself onto the bed, weeping and praying for sanity. I was already losing my mind and the Games had not even started. After several moments, I became more calm. Having a mental meltdown right now would not help me in any way, things would only grow worse from this point on.

I removed my dress and showered, trying to scrub every precious memory I had out of my head. Memories would not be helpful during survival, they would be distractions. When I realized what I had been telling myself, I stopped. I was becoming some type of Muttation, a Mutt. I was committing emotional suicide. Being dead on the inside would get me no further.

I stepped out of the unusual Capitol shower onto a mat where my hair and body were immediately blown dry. I dressed in comfortable sleepwear and sat on the floor by the ceiling-to-floor window, I looked down on the Capitol's people anticipating tomorrow's games. I sat there, ignoring everything. I hadn't even heard the door open or anyone walking around, I was too focused on the strange people below.

Who knows how much time had passed, it had gone dark in the room and festivities were dying out on the streets below. Mark sat down in front of me, I made no eye contact with him. I could tell he was looking at me, eventually I turned to look at him. I scooched closer to him and rested my head on his shoulder.

"Are you afraid of death?" Mark asked after an extended amount of time

I shook my head, "Not really, I see how it can be frightening, going into the unknown. But when I see people die, their faces look so relieved to not be suffering through life anymore. Are _you_ afraid of death?"

"When I'm not the one dying, yes. I'm afraid of losing people. I don't want to lose you."

I pulled away to look at him, "You'd get over me. You'd have to."

"I couldn't get over you, even if I had to. I owe my life to you."

"But you don't love me like I love you. It's better off if I die and you live. If you died, I'd be just as dead, but alive. Does that make sense?" I knew I wasn't making much sense, I was upset that Mark thought he _needed_ to die for me.

"No, it doesn't make sense. You don't need me to live, I'm not physically a part of your life." Deep down inside, Mark's statement had hurt me.

"..Oh." I said quietly

"I didn't mean it like that-" I held my hand up to stop him from explaining

I gave him a friendly peck on the cheek as my eyes welled up, "You're a bigger part of my life than you'll ever know. To me, you're more important than life." And with that, I walked to my bedroom ignoring everything. I curled up in a ball under my covers and pretended that I was dead.

The next day had come quickly, I wasn't nervous or scared. I had no emotions about Mark's feelings for me. I'd simply just stop trying and let him do what he wanted, do whatever he asked. But I certainly was not going to let him die, and I had made this known to him at breakfast that morning as we argued about scenarios.

"If I get hurt, you have to move on." Mark told me

"No. If you're injured, I'm going to stay and heal you, even if it does put me in mortal danger." He knew I wouldn't accept his arguments, so he just nodded.

We had gone over sign language during the little time we had before we'd be taken to the arena. We learned it from a book that I found buried in my backyard that had somehow survived from Pre-Panem. We used it to talk to each other when we didn't want others to hear or understand. Now it would be extremely useful to us. We could communicate without giving away our positions.

As we borded the hovercraft with all of the other tributes, we were injected with trackers. It unnerved me that I could see it glowing under my skin. I poked at it for a few moments wincing in pain. Didn't they have other ways to keep track of us? After all, they did have cameras in the arena. Then again, I suspected these trackers kept record of heart rates and could tell when a tribute had died.

I looked around the carrier and surveyed other tributes, the careers looked focused and excited. Most others looked nervous or were silently crying. There were those like me, not showing much emotion. Mark had his eyes closed, I assumed he was thinking. I saw all ages ranging from 12 to 18. It was saddening to see such young people who had little to no chance of surviving the first day of the Games. They reminded me of my siblings at home, the ones who were no doubt worrying about their big sister, their protector.

My thoughts had obstructed reality. Time flew and we were already in our launch rooms. I wasn't afraid that I'd die. Death was just the next great adventure. Pepper had dressed me in a blue and red windbreaker, she then showed me something, a gold wedding band.

"Malory told me to give this to you, and she said that you'll make a fine wife someday." Pepper slid the ring onto my left ring finger.

"What if I die? What does she mean I'll be a good wife someday?" I was absolutely confused. I had told Malory how I never wanted to marry anyone but Mark. Mark didn't want to get married at all, with the Hunger Games around, he'd be so paranoid that everything he loved would be taken away. I was so uneasy about the thought of us pretending to be married because I knew Mark wouldn't be okay with it.

"30 seconds." The voice announced over the loud speaker

"You'll understand when the time comes." Pepper hugged me and gave me a kiss on the cheek, "May the odds be ever in your favor. Good luck, Soli. And if you don't come back, I just want you to know, everything will be alright."

I stepped into the tube and it closed around me. I started ascending into the arena, as my head popped out of the ground, I was struck with cool air and the scent of forest. For a moment, it felt like I was back in District 7. I had to stop myself before I ran straight off the platform, I would've been blown to pieces. There was a huge circle in a rather empty party of the forest that encircled us, the cornucopia in the center. I saw Mark who was 5 tributes to my left, and for a moment I thought of engaging in the blood bath that would be happening any moment now. However, if I got myself killed, Mark would not make it to the end, we needed each other for our plan to work. The numbers in the countdown slowly got smaller and smaller.

**10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1...**

The gong sounded and almost all of the tributes ran towards the cornucopia. I sprinted hard to my left as Mark had done the same, we sprinted into the woods together before we could see anything we regretted. It was just like home, it seemed as if they had made this arena just for us. Something was off though. These woods were not like those at home. The trees were different, the air was different, the atmosphere was different.

Mark and I had run until we could no longer feel our legs and our lungs felt like they had been engulfed in flames. I rested my hands on my knees, heavily breathing. We were far enough away from everyone and soon we would hear the cannon fire denoting how many had fallen. I sat down on the ground after I had calmed down considerably. We needed to rest for a few minutes before continuing on again at a much slower pace.

"Mark, does this place seem...strange to you?" I asked

"Like someone's watching us?" I nodded, "Yeah, something isn't right here."

I stood up and helped Mark to his feet, "We better get moving again, we need to find water."

As I grabbed Mark's hand I noticed he also had a wedding band on his left hand. I smiled up at him and signed _"I see you got a wedding gift as well." _Mark laughed and nodded. He grabbed my hand and we walked foreward. We were supposed to be acting like a married couple, well, I didn't have to act too much, I loved Mark unconditionally.

We didn't have any supplies, no food or water. Hopefully we had gracious sponsors who would help us out in times of need. We had walked at least two miles before deciding to make a camp by a few bushes of edible berries. We had just settled in when the cannons started, we both counted together. 12 dead. That left 10 other than us alive and we wouldn't be killing each other any time soon. Just 10 threats left.

There was water nearby, I could feel it. We would find it tomorrow, early in the morning when, hopefully, no other tribute would be awake. As I sat down to rest I saw something in the distance through the trees. My heart had stopped for a minute. I stared again and saw it move, I hit Mark to get his attention and motion towards the creature that looked human. He had seen it too.

It had on what looked like a suit. It was tall and very thin. Its face had no characteristics at all. I felt woozy looking at this disfigured manlike creature. Mark turned to me, and looked me in the eyes. We both knew exactly what this thing was. We had learned about it through mythology of Pre-Panem.

_"Slenderman." _Mark signed to me slowly as his hands shook ever so slightly. This was not good. This was not good at all.

* * *

**Hey everyone! I hope you enjoyed chapter 4! I would like to take the time to thank you for reading this. If you would so much as take the time to write a review or favorite or even alert I would greatly appreciate it. It's a huge motivation to write and lately I've been a little stuck with this story. Anyway, thank you very much for reading. I hope you stick around for more to come :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Here's chapter 5! Hope you enjoy this one and I will see you (hopefully) at the bottom!**

Mark and I both stood up, trying not to make any sudden movements or noises. According to legend, there are 8 pages that Slenderman seemingly protects. If one were to pick these pages up, he would automatically start stalking you through the woods. As you pick up each page, he gets progressively more persistant in trying to kill you. If Slenderman catches you, it is rumored that he impales your body onto a tree top. If you stare at him for too long, you'll ultimately go insane, and then he'll brutally murder you.

There's also such a thing as Slender Sickness. It's a result of going insane from being stalked by Slenderman. You enter into a coma and the only way to save yourself is to find mementos from your childhood in your home. The same rules apply, the more things you collect, the more aggressive he gets. However, you can escape the nightmare by finding all of the items and exiting the house. After this you wake up.

Mark and I knew all about Slenderman, we told each other we would not pick up any pieces of paper, or anything while we were in Slender's woods. We quietly started walking away, we'd occasionally look back to see if he was following us, it seemed he wasn't. We hadn't seen any pages so far but I had noticed little things scattered about on the ground. Things like knives and syringes, but I didn't think it would be a good idea to pick these up. I was just glad Mark hadn't noticed them. It felt as if we had walked forever and I was starting to become paranoid and anxious.

We soon came by a small clearing in the woods. There were very few trees here and I could feel that water was close again. The air felt damp and it smelled musty. I motioned for Mark to stop and started climbing the tallest tree I could find. I was small and more agile and Mark was not very good at climbing.

I started scaling the tree but something felt different about it. It didn't feel like a tree from back home, even though it was identical to them. It didn't even feel like it was made of wood. I went up to the last branch that could support my weight and scouted around for water. I grabbed onto a higher branch for support and leaned to get a better look at everything. The darkness was so thick, I could barely see a few inches in front of my face.

Suddenly, the branch I was grasping with my hand started heating up, I didn't realize until it was too late. The branch had become white hot and melted the flesh clear off of my palm. It caused me pain so severe that I let go and lost balance, dropping at least 20 feet to the ground with a thud. I cringed as I hit the ground, tears of pain running down my face. My palm was oozing a clear liquid and felt as though it were on fire. I bit my tongue to keep myself from yelling out in pain, someone would hear and find us, equipped with nothing but our bare hands.

I heard Mark gasp from several feet away and heard his footsteps coming closer to me. He knelt down beside me and checked me out. He felt my ribs, and I let out a muffled cry as he brushed over the point of impact. Mark hugged me and let me cry into his chest as he done on the train and before the tribute parade. I could only return the hug with on arm. The arm with the injured hand was too painful to move.

"You have a few cracked ribs." He whispered, "I'm sorry I couldn't catch you, I couldn't see you and didn't know that you had fallen until I heard you hit the ground. What happened?"

It took me a moment until I could speak in a clear voice which still came across as a bit shaky, "The tr..tree is..is a mutt. I b-burned my ha..hand."

I could feel myself going into shock as we spoke. I could feel myself slipping further and further away from reality, I faintly heard another cannon. Mark reacted slightly to it, I knew another had died. Mark lifted me up and carried me, we could hear running water nearby. The last thing I remembered was the capitol seal in the sky and all of the people who had fallen.

The boy from 1 had perished, all from 2 and 3 had survived. It was strange to see a dead career on the first day. The girls from 4 and 5 appeared. Both from 6 had died. It skipped over us, I half expected to see myself because I could no longer feel pain, I was numb. The boy from 8 was next and then the 12 year-old girl from 9. All the tributes from 10, 11 and 12 had appeared, which inculded two more 12-year-olds.

We laid on the damp ground and looked up at the sky as the sealed appeared again and the anthem faded out. I knew I needed sleep but I couldn't, I didn't want to risk being caught off guard. It wasn't like we'd be any better off if we were prepared for an attack, we had nothing. After pondering it for awhile I curled up close to Mark and finally went to sleep.

When I woke the next morning, I was not only wearing my windbreaker, but Mark's was also draped over me. He was nowhere in sight and I really hoped he hadn't gone back to Slender's woods to pick up the supplies we had seen the night before. Those were what Slenderman was guarding. I tried to sit up and remembered my horrible, embarrassing fall. What would my district be thinking of me? How did my siblings react? I looked at my bad hand and nearly vomitted at the sight. Saying it looked awful would be an understatement.

Now that there was light, I had finally seen that I was not burned, but electrocuted. Small red lightning-like patterns reached up from my burn and stopped at the location of my tracker. It was strange that I wasn't effected by the electricity any more than a burn and some marks up my arm. I heard footsteps and turned around as fast as my body would let me go. I saw nothing at first and thought it was another tribute trying to sneak up on me. Had Mark been killed while I slept?

I looked closer and realized that Mark was sneaking back to me, but he was coming from a different direction than the footsteps. I listened closely, I could hear Mark's footsteps and the mysterious ones as well. Mark neared me and I signed to him to stop and listen, he confirmed that he heard the footsteps too. Mark also had a survival pack with him, which I didn't understand how. He'd have to explain later.

As I stood up to investigate I heard all sort of discouraging noises coming from my body, I walked slowly around a tree, ready to welcome a strike from one of the huge careers. As I looked I saw a small boy around 13 limping and looking severely defeated. When he saw Mark and I, he froze in fear that we'd kill him. I motioned him towards us.

"We don't have any weapons, we can't hurt you." I told him, "I'm injured myself." I held up my hand to show him.

The boy looked a bit skeptical at first but soon dragged his way over to us. He was covered in blood and his clothes were tattered, he must have had a horrible run in with some sort of Mutt. He had gashes all over him and it was a wonder that he was still living.

"I'm Soli and this is Mark." I motioned and Mark nodded at the mention of his name.

"Sit down, we'll take a look at your leg." Mark said, helping to lower the boy down.

The boy winced as he said, "My names is Jax."

"Nice to meet you." I said

I looked at his leg, it wasn't all too bad on the outside but I could tell something wasn't right on the inside. I helped moved him closer to the water and washed off some of the blood with the cool water. Jax was burning with a fever and I doubted he'd make it another day. The infection had spread all over his body. It was far too bad for me too control with any nearby herbs. If he didn't make the night, if anything, I just wanted to show him that not all people are bad.

"What happened to you?" Mark asked

"I got caught up in the bloodbath at the cornucopia. The careers thought they had killed me, I got trampled by some other tributes. I waited until the careers were asleep before I snuck away and ended up here." Jax explained

"You didn't pick up anything on the ground, did you?" I asked, I couldn't understand why I was so paranoid about Slender's woods. Yes, he was frightening, but he really had no reason to come after me, I hadn't taken any of his things.

He shook his head, "No, if I stopped I wouldn't have been able to keep going."

I nodded, "Okay, good." I then turned to Mark, "Where'd you get that?" I pointed to the pack.

Mark sighed, "Well, while you were asleep this morning, someone tried to collect some items from over there," He pointed to Slender's woods, not mentioning it so he wouldn't frighten Jax, "And he did not like it in the least bit. The person dropped their pack, I'm pretty sure Slendy took all of his stuff back. I checked."

That made 14 dead tributes. I didn't like the idea of Mark taking that pack, even though its owner was dead. People were dying so quickly and it was only the second day. Either these games were the most brutal in history, fate dealt the games a pool of lousy tributes. Then I remembered, most people die within the first two days, the tributes usually stay alive for about 2 weeks. They go insane, they kill each other, the victor is crowned. Everyone else dies from hunger, thirst, or infection. A lucky few knew how to take care of themselves. A few days would be uneventful.

I tried as best I could to bring Jax's temperature down. I attempted to make an herbal mixture by using the cantine from the survival pack and leaving it in the sun. It was a miserable attempt that failed. I let cold water run over my hand every once in awhile to ease the pain that I also had. My ribs didn't hurt as much, but I supposed I still had a bit of shock left in my system.

We gathered edible berries, I even picked a few poison just in case there was an emergency. There was also dried fruit in the pack and a few crackers. We each got a few pieces of fruit and ate our meals. Jax was getting worse by the minute, I could tell how much discomfort he was in. He kept drifting in and out of consciousness. His fever was dangerously high and I felt helpless and horrible that I couldn't do anything more for this poor child.

I let him rest his head on my lap, running my fingers through his hair, brushing his bangs away from his forehead. Just as I'd do with my little brothers if they had gotten sick. Every so often I'd poor some water on his forehead to cool him off a bit. I wanted Jax to feel loved, I wanted to love him like a big sister. I wanted to show him motherly love before he passed away. It all happened so fast, his eyes rolled back in his head and he started convulsing, tears streamed down my face. For a few moments I actually believed that this child was mine.

"Mark, I can't do anything more for him." I started to panic, "Hand me some nightlock."

"What? Why?" Mark asked

"Just do it!" I exclaimed, becoming more frantic as Jax's body spasmed uncontrollably in front of me. Mark handed me the nightlock and I gently slipped it into Jax's mouth as I gave him a kiss on the forehead.

"Goodnight, sweet child." A few of my tears land on his face as his body suddenly stopped, everything stoped. I had killed a boy, and I didn't even care if it was for his own good, I felt terrible. The cannon sounded and the mockingjay pitch that announce the arrival of the hovercraft was heard above us.

Mark brushed the tears from my face, "That was the bravest thing I've ever seen anyone do." He kissed me on the lips and I could feel my cheeks burn. This kiss felt different, and I didn't know if I liked it or not. Mark pulled away and gave me such a sincere look of sorrow and respect.

"C'mon, we better get out of her before the careers figure out where we are." He said, putting his windbreaker back on and the backpack on his back, then grabbing my good hand. I said goodbye to Jax under my breath once more as did Mark before we ran up stream to find a safer place to stay the night.

* * *

**Hey everybody! Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed chapter 5! I'm sorry if I miscounted the dead tributes but there should be a total of 15 dead up to Jax. I'm also sorry if you shed a tear because I did when I was writing this lol. If you'd take the time to review, favorite or alert it would be extremely helpful to me. I just like to know that I'm writing this story and people are reading it and enjoying it. Thanks again for reading! See you in the next chapter :) Stick around for more to come!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Here's Chapter 6! Hope you enjoy, see you at the bottom!**

Mark and I ran for a good 20 minutes before the pain in my ribs had intensified so much that I could barely tell Mark that we had to stop. We slowed our pace to a brisk walk after I refused several of Mark's offers to carry me. I didn't want to tire him out and I was perfectly content with just walking and holding his hand. There was absolutely nothing wrong with my legs besides a bit of soreness, which I knew Mark's had to be feeling the same.

The sun grew more hot by the minute, I was sweating profusely and it made the burn on my hand sting. All of my feelings were coming back to me. I was no longer emotionless and I could feel everything from my aching appendages to the guilt, anger and sadness of poisoning a boy. No matter how hard I tried, I could not shake this from my mind. I'd have to live with this for the rest of my life, no matter how short or long it be. I tried to console myself by remembering that even with proper medicine his chances of survival were low. This only made my eyes well up which slowed us down to a complete stop.

Mark had been watching me ponder everything. He saw how I was hurting. He could tell I was fighting the urges to cry out in misery. When Mark saw the tears forming in my eyes, he refused to move and pulled me into a hug. Yet again, I cried to him. He consoled me, ran his fingers through my hair and hushed me like a child. I was distraught, and felt awful about my actions. That boy had a family somewhere, parents who loved him and were devastated by his death. This crushed me inside.

I wiped my eyes, took a few deep relieving breaths and we trecked on again. It wasn't long before we reached a dense region in the woods. It reminded me of home and gave me a bit of relief. Mark and I decided this would be a good place to stay for the next few days. We had to be _miles_ away from the nearest tribute, and we grew up playing in these kinds of woods, it would not be hard to hide from an outsider.

We took off our jackets, spread them out on the ground and laid on them. My pains were nauseating me and I had a low temperature fever. Mark sat down on his jack and dug around in the survival pack for something, he pulled out a needle and ripped it from its sterile container. He prepared to stick it in my arm, but I stopped him.

"Where did you get that?" I asked him

"It was in the pack." Mark replied, I knew he was lying.

"No, you didn't, they don't just put high quality Capitol medicine in a survival pack and not tell you what it's for." I stated.

"It's morphling, for your pain." He was lying again.

"Stop. I know what it's for. When did you get it? And don't say when you found the backpack because that's the wrong answer."

Mark sighed, "We got a parachute while you were asleep. I retrieved it and came back just when the boy came limping out of the woods. I wasn't going to tell you then because I knew you'd try to help him and you'd use the medicine for him."

"It would've brought his fever down we could've-" Mark cut me off

"It wasn't for him though, and I knew you wouldn't like this but I had to." He stabbed me in the arm with the needle while I wasn't expecting it and injected the medicine, I cried out in pain, "I'm sorry, but you need to stay alive."

I glared at him, his actions were out of love, kind of. I sighed and looked up at the sky, it was early in the afternoon and the sky was such a bright color of blue. It was a wonder that something of such beauty could even be found in the most horrible of places. Mark laid down next to me. We stayed silent for awhile. We didn't need words right now.

After some time, I sat up, my pain had been dulled, but it was still there under all of the medicine. Mark was now resting with his eyes closed, I assumed he had gotten no sleep the night before, having to watch over me. I just stared at him, I loved everything about him. His body, his face, the way his chest rose and fell as he breathed. Mark was strong and brave, he could also be humorous whenever the situation called for it. He was the definition of perfection. Well, to me at least he was.

It was then that I was startled out of my trance by a rustling in the bushes. Something was watching us. Mark had heard it as well. He had already been up on his feet, I stood too after a bit of help from Mark. We looked in all directions and couldn't see anything. We could only hear faint shuffling noises and branches moving. Until we heard it.

_Groooooooaaar_

It was the most begrudging moan I had heard in my life, and held no interest in sticking around to see what had made the noise. I had just turned to tell Mark we should leave when something cam charging at us from through the trees. It was a horrifying creature that looked humanoid. This thing had a disfigured head, its jaw was hanging loosely as if it possessed no bones. One of its arms looked human while the other had a hand with blades for fingers.

Mark and I grabbed our things quickly and sprinted, not even to stop to question each other. I was starting to think that Slender's Woods would be safer right now. I was starting to like the idea of going back to that area, when Mark violently pulled me into a small cave he had just found. Both out of breath, we tried as hard as we could to be silent. Hopefully, the monster was restrained to a certain area like most were, and hopefully we were outside of that area now.

As soon as we were sure we were safe I turned to see Mark fall to the ground. The monster had obviously come closer than I had thought. His back was bleeding from three blade-like claw marks. They weren't deep but I knew I had to do something to stop the bleeding. I took Mark's shirt off of him and made him lie on his stomach. This alone brought back horrible memories of the fire at home two years ago. I may have been able heal his burns, but I could never fix the scars. They were awful, as horrible as I had remembered them as, maybe even worse. I rummaged through the pack for bandages but I didn't see anything. I did, however, know where I could find them, along with medicine and more weapons as well. I knew what I had to do. I was going back to Slender's Woods. Since we now had two knives because of the pack, I took one and stood up.

"Stay here." I said to Mark, as if he'd try to get up, "You're bleeding and I don't want you to get an infection."

"I know where you're going, you can't go, you'll die." He said

"If I don't go, you'll die, then who'll be here to protect me?" I asked. It was a valid point. He made it clear that he was here to make sure I lived, even if it did sound a bit selfish. I was just making sure he could fulfill his duties. "I'll be fine, trust me, please?"

Mark sighed, "Fine. But please, please be careful."

"I promise you, I will." I kissed him on the cheek, "I love you."

Before he could answer I ventured out with my knife, which really wouldn't offer much protection unless I knew how to throw it, which I didn't. I needed to get to that area quickly because night was falling, Slenderman would be much more aggressive at night. I ran at some points and sneaked at others. I had to be fast but I needed to be stealthy.

Off in the distance, I could feel my pain ebbing at me every once in awhile. I was feeling much better now but I knew the pain would return soon, the pain always returned. I was almost there, I hadn't encountered any other tribute yet, and I really hoped I wouldn't. I was probably too weak to handle anything else right now, mentally and physically. At every crack of a branch beneath my feet I'd stop to listen for a few moments, I knew the careers weren't near, and other tributes wouldn't normally kill just to play the games. I had finally reached my destination.

I found the bandages and stuffed them into my pockets, I searched around on the ground for medical syringes, it was growing darker and I couldn't see anything. I felt around on the ground for what seemed like hours before I found what I was looking for at last, I shoved it into my pocket and stood up. Finding myself face to face with none other than Slenderman himself.

My eyes widened and my heart raced a mile a minute. This is what true terror felt like. I stared into his white empty face, he was drawing me and then as soon as he had arrived, he was gone. But my cheeks, from my cheek bones to my jaw, had been left with an icy-burning sensation. It was almost like he detected my presence but thought I was merely another part of the games. What was going on? I'd wonder about it later, I was just worried about getting back to Mark alive. I had never run faster in my life.

* * *

**I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter! I'm sorry if it's getting boring or anything! This one may be a little shorter but I'm writing this at like 1:30 AM. Reviews and favorites really help! Stick around for more and I'll see you in the next chapter! MARKIPLITES UNITE and congrats to MarkiplierGAME for hitting 100k!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Here's chapter 7! Enjoy! See you at the bottom!**

* * *

I had been tripping over my own two feet as I ran back to Mark. My heart felt as if it were about to burst out of my chest. I had been so frightened that I might not live to see Mark again. I sprinted hard, ignoring everything around me, which I realized wasn't a very smart move to make. Careers could have been following me, but I didn't care. I needed to get back to the cave.

As I arrived, I could no longer see Mark in the cave, which had scared me. I had left him right there, I hadn't heard any cannons while I was away. Where could he have gone? I snuck into the cave quietly and ventured a little further in, feeling along the wall as I went, until it came to an abrupt end, he couldn't have gone anywhere but out. I started running towards the mouth before I was violently pulled to the opposite wall, into a small indent, by an unseen force, if it weren't for a hand covering my mouth, I would have screamed. My eyes had adjusted to the light, I sighed in relief as I saw Mark standing there.

_"What's going on?" _I signed to him

_"Someone was spying on the cave, career."_

I was startled by this, they obviously knew where we were, and they somehow thought of us as threats. They knew we wouldn't kill each other and they understood that we weren't going to play their games. The careers needed us out of the way. Our first encounter with a deadly tribute had just begun as the career crept quietly into the cave, scoping her surroundings carefully. My heart raced, I drew my knife slowly and quietly until I dropped it. The clang of the blade hitting the floor echoed around the cave, the career had spotted us. She threw a spear right at my head which I barely managed to duck while feeling around for my knife on the hard ground.

As soon as I had found it she ran for me and kicked me hard in the face, I could feel warm liquid running from my nostrils, more blood. I was knocked over with such force that my weapon had been knocked out of my hand and out of my reach. The girl pinned me to the ground, and smirked in my face. I could barely make out her crystal blue eyes and her dark brown hair was plastered to her forehead and cheeks.

"Where's your husband now? Ran away to let you die?" She mocked

I spit bloody saliva in her face which led to her retaliating and punching me in the head again. I whimpered, I was close to unconsciousness. Where had Mark gone now? I hadn't even notice that he snuck into the shadows while I attracted attention. I tried reaching for the knife which was just out of my range. The girl smirked again.

"Oh, is this what you want?" She grabbed it and held it to my throat, "Not the most pleasant way to die, I suppose, but if this is what you want..."

I closed my eyes and waited to die. Mark was going to let me die. Before anything else had happened, I felt the spray of blood on my face, was it my own? It couldn't have been, I didn't feel the girl cut me. I then felt the weight of the tribute fall on top of me and heard a cannon sound.

"Soli!" Mark pulled me out from under the girl and hugged me tightly. I closed my eyes, I couldn't distinguish tears from blood, I was weak again and now had more injuries. I didn't want to see what he had done to the girl, then I remembered the medicine. I took it out of my pocket, and injected into Mark's arm while he least expected it.

"Ow." I heard him mutter under his breath

"If I told you about it you'd only try to use it on me." I told him, while I wiped away some of the blood I had left on his cheek. It was only he truth, though. There was no sense in arguing with Mark about something. He would have made me take the medicine or he would have given it to me through force.

"Oh alright." He sighed, "C'mon, we have to move quickly unless we want to encounter more tributes like her."

I nodded. We gathered our belongings quickly, I retrieved the knife from the girl while still trying not to look at her. We were on the run again. We needed to get to safety mostly to stay alive, and partly because I wanted to tell Mark what happened while back in the woods. Running was no longer a chore to us, we were getting used to it by now. It felt as if our stamina had risen ever so slightly, perhaps it was just adrenaline.

Hopefully no other career had been watching us. Careers rarely ever "hunted" alone, unless she had broken away from the group to try and achieve glory without help. Every once in awhile we'd search our surroundings for any nearby threats until we reached a small pond that was surrounded by grasses and small shrubs. I bandaged Mark's back as we sat. This was our new "home" for the time being.

"Don't eat these berries." I picked one to show Mark as we rested, and let him observe it, "Cadava."

He listened to me but looked at my face strangely, I knew I had been bleeding from the nose and mouth, but he couldn't tear his eyes away from something.

"What are those scratches running down your face?" Mark asked, still giving me a strange look.

"What scratches?" And then I had remembered my face to face encounter with Slenderman, how my cheeks had felt just as I ran for my life. I crawled quickly to the edge of the pond and splashed water in my face to remove excess blood and dirt. I gasped as I saw three distinct lines running from each of my cheekbones to my jaw.

"What happened while you were gone? Did someone hurt you?" Mark was acting overly protective. It could've been that I was almost brutally murdered right in front of him.

"No! Well, yes. Kind of." I wasn't lying, _something_ had obviously hurt me.

"Who did it?"

I let out a deep breath, "It was Slenderman."

"You need more medicine."

"Mark, I'm fine. I'm not hurting as badly as before." I said, he wouldn't listen to me.

"You fell out of a tree, got burnt, attacked by Slenderman, and then you almost got killed by a tribute. You need to relax, hopefully, just _hopefully_, we'll be safe here. We both need rest."

I nodded and moved closer to him. Mark gently put his arm around my shoulder. We sat like this for awhile, recuperating from the events of the day. We each ate a cracker from the pack and a few edible berries. I wasn't very hungry. I was never hungry to the brink I thought I was going to starve. Some people don't like eating certain foods, I didn't really like eating any food. My digestive system had been ruined by many years of starving at home. I could feel hunger, but not to the extent of a normal person. I could've been starving to death and I probably wouldn't have even known. The sun was setting, soon the anthem would play and we would see the dead tributes. Two of which had been killed by us.

"You know I really care about you, right?" Mark asked

I looked up at him, "Why wouldn't I know? You saved my life and let someone else die just so I would take my medicine."

"It's just, when I tell you to do certain things, you doubt me. I only want what's best for you, I don't care if it makes you seem selfish. At least I'd know you'd be taken care of."

I had no idea where any of this was coming from, "I'm sorry," I went along with him, he _had_ to be acting for the cameras, "I'm just so used to putting others before myself. I just don't realize when I'm putting myself at risk anymore. It's just natural to me."

Mark nodded, "I understand, just know that when I tell you to do something, it's because I care so much about you. I love you so much, I can't even express it through words."

Either Mark was really good at acting or he was being completely serious. I could never tell, he just had that way about him. He could make you believe him when he lied. Perhaps I was too credulous. I wished I had better judgement of other's emotional feelings. I could tell if someone was in severe physical pain but I could never read how they felt on the inside.

"Isn't 'I love you' enough expression?" I asked

"No." He shook his head before pulling me in and kissing me. I had this funny feeling again. I couldn't tell if it had made me feel extremely uncomfortable or if it had made me fall even further for Mark. We were supposed to be portraying a married couple, maybe we were both just acting natural. I guessed that married couples fel deeper in love everyday of their marriage. There would be rough times, but you'd just keep falling for each other over and over again. We pulled away from each other and smiled.

"I love you." I said, this time truly expressing my feelings for Mark.

"I love you, too."

I hadn't been expecting the way he had sounded when he returned those four little words. Whenever we told each other that we loved one another, it was usually with the brotherly or sisterly tone that I used with my siblings. Mark and I had practically become siblings over the two years we'd know each other. But this was the tone of someone who'd love you over the years, through sickness and in health, and through every possible hardship you could imagine. It wasn't the voice of someone being forced to love you because of family connections. I concluded that this was what true love sounded like.

We hugged as the sun went down and the darkness chilled us. The seal of Panem appeared in the sky as the anthem played. We saw the picture of the girl who had tried to kill me, she was from 2. Jax appeared next, he was from 4. Last was the girl who had been fatally attacked by Slenderman, she was from 8.

Even though Mark and I were in the worst of situations. Even though everything and everyone was out to kill us. I snuggled closer to my "husband" and fell asleep with a smile on my face and butterflies in my stomach.

* * *

**Thank you for reading! I really hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and I hope you've all enjoyed the story so far. It's not getting a whole lot of attention, but I'm actually enjoying writing for once. Anything helps to keep me motivated though! So please, take the time to favorite or review! Thanks again! Stick around for more to come!**


	8. Chapter 8

It was still dark when I woke the next morning. I was warm, still wrapped in Mark's embrace. He was still in a deep sleep and I didn't want to disturb him by stirring. It was quiet all around us and I could hear my thoughts clearly now. I had started pondering about the evening before. What if it was all just a show? It had to be believable that we loved each other and would love each other forever. If the audience didn't believe us, they'd lose interest. I knew I wasn't acting, maybe I was just too happy that Mark was paying me a more affectionate attention to see through his front.

I now understood why I had to keep mysef busy at home. Every possible scenario would run through my thoughts. I would drive myself mad imagining each. I decided not to bring this up with Mark, it would just cause an argument. I always tried not to ask questions that I didn't want to know the answers to.

There was something that still seemed strange about yesterday. Mark was usually protective of me in a brotherly way. I could sense that he wasn't faking his concerns. I thought for awhile, he looked angry when he discovered I had been attacked. He didn't ask what had done it, but rather who had hurt me. Something had made him act this way, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Mark had seemed to think I had been attacked by a tribute, rather than a part of the games. And then it hit me, there were eight remaining tributes in the games including us. As usual, girls didn't really make it as long as the boys. There were two other girls than me and four other boys than Mark. I could over power another female but I'd surely be dead if a male attacked me. Perhaps he thought I'd had a run in with another female, but I'd probably have killed her if she was that much of a threat to me. He would have heard the cannon.

I hadn't even realized I was staring into space until I saw a hand waving in my face. I snapped out of my trance to see Mark smiling at me. I smiled a little and then went straight faced again. He shot me a confused glance.

"What's wrong?" he asked

I shook my head, "Nothing, I'm fine. Just thinking about stuff."

"Like?"

"About how I just want to go home. I don't even care if I go back dead or alive, I just want to go home." I said, which was truthful, I'd somehow rather go back dead. Because in order to live, Mark had to die, and I didn't want that, even though that was what he wanted.

"You're going back alive." He said sternly, "I don't care how much you protest."

"Even if I go back alive, it's the same as going back dead because I won't have you. I won't want to be alive if I can't see you or hear your voice every day. You give me a reason to live."

Mark looked taken aback by my statement. I hadn't said anything that wasn't already known to him. I guess he just never thought of my giddy schoolgirl crush as something so serious. I guess he didn't think he was _that_ big of a part of my life. He may have finally realized he was in over his head with trying to protect me from inevitable death, that I wouldn't accept him dying for me, nobody would.

"If I go home without you everyone will hate me. Your family won't speak to me, I won't have anyone who understands. It would affect me more than it affects you. I don't know how many times I have to tell you before you get it through your head, I can't live without you. I love you in so many ways, as a best friend, as a role model, as a partner. You are the light in my life, and without you, I'm left in the dark. Please, don't die for me. It's a lost cause."

"Don't say that, it's not a lost cause." Mark was starting to get aggitated

"It is a lost cause. I feel like I cheated you out of living a long full life. You won't get a chance now because you're so hellbent on getting yourself killed for me. I appreciate your selflessness but I never asked you to do this. I should have some say in who lives or dies."

"But Soli, you don't understand, if you die, I've lost my best friend. I love you more than you think, in ways that you won't ever know or understand. I won't let you die. You saved my life two years ago. I'm only returning my favor to you."

We had obviously both been very animated about how we wanted things. I wanted to die, I would be dead either way. Mark wanted to die for me, if he lived, he'd see himself as a failure. There was really only one way to settle this and both of us would have to die. Or maybe not, I wanted Mark to keep fighting. I wanted him to have a chance at a better life, not having me hanging around on his arm at all times. I wanted him to stop trying to repay me for saving his life. It was my job. Volunteering to save me, however, was not Mark's occupation.

I sighed and grabbed the pack that was lying next to me.

"Soli, what are you doing?"

I searched around until I found a berry. The very one I had told Mark not to eat just the night before. It was a cadava berry. It wouldn't kill me immediately, it would just give me enough time to tell Mark my motives. He had to go one, he couldn't deny me my final wishes, could he? This was it, I popped the berry into my mouth and swallowed it.

"NO!" He exclaimed, but he was too late. I could see the tears welling in his eyes. Mark would hate me forever for doing this but I had to, it was the only way. I started feeling discomfort, I didn't have long.

_"This isn't your fault. Don't feel guilty, stop feeling guilty. Please carry on for me? Tell my siblings I loved them? I will always love you, and don't forget it. Be good and take care. May the odds be ever in your favor." _I signed shakily, I was growing weaker and weaker by the moment.

"I will!" Mark cried out, "I'll do anything for you. I promise you anything. I love you, Soli, I love you so much."

"Thank you." I whispered, my body went limp and I could no longer move. It was a paralyzing out-of-body experience. Everything went dark. I could faintly feel teardrops on my face. I could hear Mark screaming at me to get up he was screaming that he loved me. He threw his body over mine and shook as he sobbed. The cannon sounded. Everything went black.

I woke up in a white room, unaware and confused of my whereabouts. I sat up, I was in a hospital bed hooked up to monitors of all types. Hadn't I died? I was sure the cadava berries had killed me. Were the games still going on? Was Mark alive? For once in the past few days I had been truly alone, and the thought had terrified me. What was going on?

It was only a matter of time before a team of nurses came rushing in to check on me. I eyed all of them, still not being able to comprehend what had happened. All of them talking in hushed tones as they checked my vital signs. A doctor then hurried in and looked me over.

"Incredible, really." He said, "Soli?"

I looked at him, "What's so incredible about this? Am I dead?" My voice was weak, I hadn't been awake in a long time from the sounds of it.

"Of course you aren't, silly! The odds were very much in your favor two weeks ago. You see, your tracker shorted out somehow. It not only allows game makers to be aware of your position, but it also measures your vital signs."

I didn't like the tone of this doctors voice, "But I killed myself."

"You only _thought_ you killed yourself. The berry you ate was poisonous, but not deadly. It left you unconscious for a long time. It dropped you vitals and breathing so low that you were mistaken for dead. We could only judge by your actions where you were and if you were alive or not. When we harvested your body from the arena, we realized you weren't actually dead. However, it was too late to put you back."

"So..I'm not dead..?" I was still skeptical. This didn't seem very much like something the Capitol would do. The games must be over by now, I prayed that Mark was not dead, prayed that he lived.

"No, no, not dead. You must rest though."

"..Mark..?" I couldn't even get the whole question out of my mouth.

"The boy from your district? Ah, yes, alive and well. Was crowned by President Snow himself a few days ago." I let out a sigh of relief, the pressure was lifted from my chest. As long as Mark was okay, I was okay.

"Now rest. You need your rest. Very important visitors coming to see you first thing tomorrow morning." The doctor whisked himself away before I could ask anymore questions.

The last thing I wanted to do was sleep, I had just slept for two weeks, wasn't that enough rest for one person? I had a feeling that these "very important visitors" were not going to include Mark. And I was absolutely sure they were not happy with me. It wasn't my fault that the tracker had shorted out. I was legitemately trying to commit suicide. It wasn't like I'd asked for this. The only relieving thing I knew was that Mark was alive and safe, at least for now.

* * *

**Thank you for reading this chapter! As always I hope you enjoyed it! Stick around for more! I will definitely see you in the next chapter! Thanks again! :)**


	9. Chapter 9

I didn't want to sleep, I just wanted to reutrn home. I wanted to see my siblings again. I wanted everything to go back to the way it was before I was reaped. I probably wouldn't be able to do any of that now. I was a government secret so I'd most likely be kept in the Capitol. It wasn't my fault that I was alive, I honestly thought the poison would kill me. I didn't plan on waking up in this place.

I had just slept for two weeks, I didn't need anymore rest. I don't think I could ever close my eyes again. I was still experiencing strong depression and paranoia. I couldn't trust anyone. I tried to sit up but a nurse rushed over and pushed me back down and injected a type of sleeping medication into my arm.

The prick of the needle reminded me of Mark. When I had burnt my hand he gave me medicine, and now I'd probably never see him again. I became more and more drowsy as time went on until I was suddenly in a pitch black dreamless sleep. I felt numb to the world. It was a feeling that no one could understand without feeling it themselves. The light _had_ gone out of my life. I hoped Mark wouldn't think I was selfish when I wanted so desperately to get out of the games. He would hate me for this.

When I awoke the next morning, I was fully dressed but restrained to the bed I was in. I stared at the ceiling, feeling empty inside. I was offered breakfast but ignored it, I wasn't hungry. I gazed into emptiness for what seemed like a lifetime. I wasnt even phased by the doors opening.

"Ah, Soli. The girl who lived." I heard a Capitol accent, and slowly turned to be faced by President Snow, followed by two tall men with green hair, twins, I had suspected. I also saw Malory behind them, accompanied by Pepper, my stylist.

"Recovering nicely, I hope?" Snow added

I nodded and didn't say a word.

"I am here to explain the consequences of your actions."

I bit my tongue, I wanted to spew all types of profane things at him. There shouldn't be any consequences, I wished they had killed me when they discovered I was alive.

"Are you going to punish me?" I asked, my voice cracking as I did so. I wasn't used to talking aloud yet.

"Seeing that you did not intend for this to happen, no." One of the green haired men spoke up.

"But evasive actions must be taken." The other twin almost seemingly finished the others statement.

"You see, Soli, every citizen in Panem thinks you have perished. They have every right to think so. Your mentors know you are alive. Your stylist knows you are alive. All of the Gamemakers know you are alive. No one else must know, especially the victor from your District. If he does not appear grief stricken in his victory tour, everyone will know something is not right."

"So, what are you going to do with me?" I inquired.

"For right now, we will keep you contained here in the Capitol until Mark is finished with his victory tour and all of the hype surrounding him has receded. We will have your appearance altered but we will not fix the scarring on your hand or face. They're both reminders of what the government can do at any given time. You have been warned. We wanted to surgically alter your appearance, but your stylist and mentor intervened and said they'd take care of it." Pepper and Malory nodded in assurance. They bid me farewell and told me to rest.

I stayed silent. Even if I went home I'd have to hide forever. I'm sure some people would be allowed to know about me. Like my siblings. I was staying alive for them right now. I wanted to see them so badly, I missed them and they were probably so frightened at home.

It was established that I badly need rest by all of the medical staff but I wasn't sure why. I complied, the sooner I could get out of this place, the better. And soon enough, I was released to Pepper who would completely make me over. I was collected from my room and lead to a metallic room. The walls were all mirrors, the floor and ceiling were made of steel and everything was shiny. Pepper sat me down in a chair and ran her fingers through my hair just like the night of the tribute parade. She frowned as she looked at the scars on my face and traced them lightly with her fingers.

"I'm going to have to cut all of your hair off." Pepper sounded saddened. I knew how much she liked my hair when I had first met her. I nodded, my face was so expressionless. The scars disfigured my appearance, but I liked them, I wasn't so plain anymore.

"Where did my ring go?" I asked in a monotonous voice. It was one of the first things I had realized when I woke from my long sleep. Freshly healed scars were in its place as I looked at my ring finger.

"Mark ripped it off of you. He managed to skin your finger as well. He's currently wearing both rings around his neck on a chain." She said

This upset me, "How did he do it? How did he get out?"

Pepper starter cutting some of my hair off, "He played it smart. He was resourceful. By the end he was the only one who wasn't dying of starvation. He didn't want to kill anyone else."

I sighed, "It's not fair. He has to face those families alone now. I feel so selfish."

"Don't think of it like that. Maybe when you go back home you'll be able to talk to him again."

"I highly doubt I'll ever be able to talk to him again. He would hate me if I showed up alive." I started hearing tinges of Capitol speech in Pepper's voice.

"You know, he wasn't pretending in the arena, he wasn't ever pretending. Here or at home. He told us. He legitimately loved you and wanted to be by your side for a very long time."

I had no more words. I was on the verge of tears but did not feel like crying in front of Pepper. That was a sign of weakness and giving up. I was going to get through this. Pepper worked on me in silence for a little while, which I was grateful for because I could not handle any more information at the moment.

Pepper broke the silence after she was sure I was stable enough to converse with again, "You know, after a tribute wins, the Capitol becomes obsessed with them until the next games come around. We're always watching, and you'll be staying with me for a little until everything's clear at home. They cover whatever they're doing, whether they have a girlfriend or get married. Sometimes, rarely, we hear about old victors having children." I guess she was trying to brighten things. We'd know what Mark was doing, but knowing what he was doing was a lot different then doing things with him. I wanted to talk to him, and laugh with him. Perhaps if circumstances were different we might've gotten married someday.

"Pepper, I really don't mean to be rude and I'm sorry if you take this in the wrong way, but, can we stop talking for awhile? It's not because I don't want to talk to you, I just need some time to think." I asked sincerely. I didn't want to upset her, but her voice was gnawing on my brain. She had a beautiful voice, it was just the my ears weren't fond of any noises right now. I could barely take the noise of the scissors removing my hair.

"Of course. If you want to talk again, I'm right here."

The room was silent but even that was to loud. The silence was getting louder and louder in my ears, it was worse than a human voice talking to me, it was now causing me physical pain. My chest was tightening and I felt deprived of breathing air. The room was constricting on me, my nose started bleeding, my whole body shook.

"He's coming for me...He's coming for me!" I shouted and repeated many times, I felt paranoid. The anxiety was overwhelming, my breath quickened as I hyperventilated. I suddenly relaxed when I felt a prick in my arm again. Pepper had injected a calming serum into my arm.

"I was warned that this might happen from time to time. You're experiencing a kind of Slender sickness that involves paranoia and a type of insanity. He's not actually after you though, you're okay, you're safe." She whispered soothingly as she wiped some blood off of my face with a towel.

Pepper had finished with my hair. She then dyed it dark brown, saying to dye it in a Capiol fashion would not be a good thing to do at the moment. She also put drops in my eyes that would change my eyecolor without doing permanent damage. I watched them shift from muddy brown to a crystal clear blue. I was starting to like my new appearance.

"Won't people recognize my hand scarring?" I asked, after almost gagging at a glimpse of it.

"You'd be surprised at how many people here replicate scars from deaths in the games. It's really strange. So in your case, it'll help as a sort of sick 'fashion' accessory if you will. They'll just help you blend in. You were really popular, you and him, I've seen a lot of your scars, but not on your body." She explained

It was a bit interesting hearing what people thought was cool here. I didn't understad why you'd want to do some of the things Pepper described to me. I wouldn't mind living with Pepper and observing the strange people who walked on the street. I just hoped I wouldn't be recognized, and I hoped things weren't too out of hand in District 7. Perhaps it was better that I hid here as opposed to hiding at home. Things would be too tempting at home, I'd want to go out and talk to people. But I literally knew no one in the Capitol. And to be quite honest, the residents frightened me too much and I never wanted to go outside and interract with them. I'd only be here temporarily. At least I hoped so.

* * *

**I hope this chapter wasn't too sucky, I've been busy lately. I hope you enjoyed reading it! Reviews and favorites help! Thanks again for reading! See you in the next chapter! :)**


	10. Chapter 10

**Sorry it took me so long to update! Here's Chapter 10! Hope you enjoy it!**

* * *

Things had been uneventful while I was at Pepper's house. All I ever seemed to do was sleep and cry. I felt that I had been ruined by the Capitol. I would never be a normal child again. It would only be a few more days before I could go home to District 7. It was strange to know that everyone thought I was dead.

I had changed a lot since I tried to commit suicide in the arena. I was afraid of everything that moved. I had developed an anxiety disorder and was still suffering from the side effects of Slender sickness. My scars had finally set in and made me look monstrous. What I liked a few months ago, I now resented, because they would never be fixed. The only thing that brought joy to me was counting down the days until I went home.

Nothing could drive Mark from the back of my mind. He was always there, I could almost hear his voice and feel his presence. He was so close yet so far away. I knew he hated me for what I did, even if I was "dead". I just knew he could never forgive what I had done. I just couldn't let him die for me, he had so much more to live for.

The thing that kept me the most sane was reading. Pepper had so many neglected books lying around in her house. I had never heard of most of them while I was back at home. My favorite's were about princesses and princes going through strife and at long last finding a happy ending. The story called "Beauty and the Beast" somehow reminded me of myself. Except I wasn't the beautiful girl who was the envy of the town. I was the hideous beast who was cold-hearted and hopeless.

I couldn't find much else to do with myself. I just felt like wasted space. I wished I had died in that arena, it would've been easier than trying to cope with being in such an unfamiliar place. I felt as if I were a prisoner.

I couldn't bare looking at myself. My skin was leathery and disfigured. It was painful to see who I'd become over the months. My hair was unkempt and my body as thin as a rail. I needed to go home, I wanted to see my siblings and hold them in my arms. The closest I could get to being happy was thinking about home. I wished I hadn't taken District 7 for granted. Any other time, it would have been like a living hell for me.

I often found myself mumbling in my sleep about Mark, or my little brothers and sisters. I caught myself daydreaming about home countless times. I longed to be at home, and now I only had a few more days in the stupid Capitol. I felt sorry for the brainwashed swine who lived here. Forced to believe in watching children murder each other for fun. They didn't know any better, of course. They never had to fear losing friends or family to the arena. They never had to fear losing themselves or their own sanity for the entertainment of others.

* * *

I now only had a few hours until departure. I was so close to being homebound. My bags were packed, I was feeling happier than I had in months. This was it, I was going home, I would live happily ever after. Perhaps someday Mark and I would make up and move past everything that had happened.

A Capitol car had come to pick me up. Pepper was not allowed to see me off on my journey home, so I bid her farewell with a hug.

"Be careful, don't trust anyone." She whispered in my ear, and I nodded in comprehension.

Everything had gone as planned, but it wasn't until we had passed the turn we were supposed to take that I realized somethig was not right. My driver had kept putting his finger up to his ear as if listening to someone through a microscopic earpiece. Anxiety was building up inside of me, I could hear the noise of rushing water in my ears. My breathing quickened and I could feel blood streaking over my lips from my nostrils. It wasn't much longer before I had passed out. What a great time for my slender sickness to act up.

I knew it had been too good to be true. I would never be going home. I would never see my family or friends again. I would never be able to talk to Mark again. I might as well be dead. The president had, obviously, had other plans for me.

When I had woke up, everything was blurry. The room was spinning and my head had hurt something awful. I could hear echoing voices in the distance, slowly becoming more and more clear. My eyes wouldn't adjust, and my body was useless, I felt paralyzed as I lay on the cold hard ground.

The voices were now closer, I could make out every little detail about them. One of them belonged to President Snow. The other voice sounded much younger, it belonged to a boy who sounded to be about Mark's age, maybe a few years older than him.

"...Her District was bombed today after the train for the victory tour left. We couldn't let her go back to that. She would be useless to us then." I heard Snow's voice

"None of her siblings survived, did they?" The younger man's voice inquired

"I'm afraid not. Poor innocent things, never saw it coming. I feel sorry for the poor girl."

"It wasn't actually her fault that she accidentally survived. She couldn't possibly have known about the tracker or anything really."

"No, it may not be her fault. But it'll keep that boy from her district in line as long as everyone thinks she's still dead. We wouldn't want anyone starting a rebellion now."

All the nerves in my body had gone numb. My siblings were dead, part of me had died as well. I wanted to scream out but my voice was missing, as if death had sucked it away from me as well. If I hadn't had a little eyesight and the use of my ears, I would have thought I was having a nightmare or dead. This was what Hell felt like. Real live nightmares where you can't move or scream or do anything but be horrified. I really wish I could know what being dead felt like, it had to feel better than this. This was all my fault.

"What are you going to do with her now?" I heard the young man speak again. My throat was beginning to burn, I wanted to scream out in agony and distress.

"We'll get as much as we can out of her in the next few days, then we'll simply dispose of her. No use in keeping her alive when everyone already thinks that she's dead."

"Wake her up. Bring her out here."

I felt something poke me slightly. My whole body was awakened with a jolt, cries of pain came from my mouth. I sniffled and wailed and whined. Everything ahd suddenly coming rushing back to me. I felt pain all over my body, my arms were stained with bruises, but my scars had disappeared. My arms were tied behind my back. I felt someone pull me up by the arm, everything about me was back to normal, I could see my reflection in a glass observation window. I saw the younger man as well.

He looked to be 18 or 19 years old. His hair was dirty blonde and his eyes were the brightest color blue I had ever seen. He looked so normal for being from the capitol. I whimpered as I was thrown at his feet. I sobbed and cried into the ground. The boy released my hands from their binds and took my wrists in his hands as he helped me to my feet. He wiped the tears from my eyes and stared at me. As if he was peering into my soul. His eyes were hypnotizing, he couldn't possibly be from the Capitol. Something about him told me not to be afraid, but something just wasn't quite right, I felt uneasy around him. I looked back into his eyes, tears still streaming steadily down my face. This boy was thinking up a plan for me, and I definitely didn't like how it felt.

"Atlas, what is on your mind?" I heard Snow ask the younger man.

"Grandfather, I want this girl as my wife."

* * *

**As I said at the beginning it took me WAY too long to update this story. I was a bit busy and writer's block had thoroughly set in on me. I'm sorry! I really hope you enjoyed reading this chapter! Hopefully you'll stick around for some future chapters! See you next time!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Here's chapter 11! Hope you enjoy and I'll see you at the bottom!**

* * *

I was only 16 and I'd be married within the nest month or so. I had only met my husband a few days ago. He was 18, handsome and intelligent. I saw how gentle he was with me compared to the way he acted around others. His name was Atlas Snow. He just so happened to be the grandson of President Snow himself. The man who had killed the only family I had left in a bombing ordered on my district a few days prior.

I had felt so rotten the past few day. I sat in my room in the president's mansion the whole time I had been there. Locked away in Privacy, I wept nonstop. Nothing could console me. How I longed for Mark to be at my side. We would be able to live together and express our feelings for each other. No one would ever be able to relate to my experience so long as I was stuck in the Capitol.

Atlas often came to my room to visit me. He brought my meals and sat with me to make sure I at least ate something. It showed me he cared and he had earned my utmost respect. He offered me tours of my new homestead many times, which I had declined each time he asked. I didn't want to leave my room for the rest of my life. I justed wanted to curl up in a ball and cry, which is how I spent most of my nights. I doubted that even Mark could make me feel better if he were here right now.

As I sat in my window seat in the evening, I heard a knock at the door. I especially wanted to be alone tonight. I heard the person knock again. I ignored them as I looked out the window and took in the scene of all the Capitol's lights.

I soon heard the door open a little.

"Soli? Are you awake?" Atlas whispered

I sighed, "Yeah. Come in."

The door opened wider and the attractive 18 year old walked cautiously into my dwelling. He gently closed the door behind him and then approached me.

"May I sit next to you?" He asked politely.

I nodded as he took a seat next to me.

"You know you don't have to ask my permission to do everything, right?"

"I know I don't have to, but it's polite and proper." Atlas said, "I just want to respect your personal space, Princess."

I restrained myself from rolling my eyes. He had taken to calling me Princess as a pet name. I hardly liked it but I wasn't about to say anything to him about it.

"So, uh, did you need something?" I asked nicely.

"Ah, yes. I know you've refused my offers countless times, but will you do me the favor of joining me on a stroll around my grandfather's mansion?"

I thought about it for a moment. My train of thought was broken by his eyes staring directly into mine. His eyes had attraced mine and I was now staring directly back into them. They were beautifully hypnotizing. I could have stared at them for days on end.

"Um, of course I will.", I said distantly, still distracted by Atlas's bright blue eyes.

"Wonderful.", He stood up and gently took my hand in his.

Atlas led me through the hallways without any word on where he was taking me. We had walked for about 10 minutes before we had reached a door guarded by two men. They stood aside and let us enter. Upon walking through the door, I was hit by the strong scent of roses. It was the president's rose garden. It was beautiful. There were so many flowers and I loved them all. I loved plants in general, I had always been fascinated by that fact that life could be contained in such structures. I found myself letting go of reality for a few moments. This place was amazing.

"Do you like it?" Atlas inquired.

"Like it? I love it.", I hugged him. It was the first time I had made any affectionate contact with him.

He hesitantly returned my hug, "I'm glad. Now come, sit down.", Atlas led me to a nearby bench and sat me down. He sat next to me and angled himelf inward so that he was facing me. He then took both of my hands in his.

"Soli, I know we have only known each other for a short amount of time, and I really like and enjoy your company. With our wedding coming up and you not having much say in the matter, I wanted to make things more official and customary for you."

I looked at him strangely. I had no idea what he was talking abour. I would never really have a say in the matter of my marriage to him.

Atlas then stood up off of the bench and kneeled on the ground on on e knee. He pulled a ring out of his pocket and stared, yet again, deeply into my eyes.

"Soli, will you be my wife?" He asked.

He was giving me a choice. I was assuming that if I said no, I would be taken prisoner again and put to death as it was originally plan. And I honestly though about saying no, but his eyes had once again caught my attention. They seemingly controlled all of my actions.

"Yes, Yes I will."

Atlas slid the ring onto my finger. It was a beautifull sliver ring with an enormous gem, I'm assuming a diamond, attached to it. After everything was said and done, we sat in the garden and spent the rest of the night talking. The stars hung over us in the open ceiling room, providing us faint light along with the moon and a few lanterns hanging on the walls.

I didn't know anything about him, but I was starting to take a liking to him. It frustrated me when I thought about how he made me feel. I was swooning over him. I'd do absolutely anything for him and agree with anything he'd say. My heart raced and my body shook ever so slightly when he was near me.

After awhile, seeing as it was very late, Atlas escorted me back to my room. We both sat on my bed and talked for a short while more. I yawned and Atlas took this as his cue to leave my side.

"Goodnight, Princess.", He kissed me on the forehead.

"Goodnight.", I said. I wanted to speak up and ask him to stay, but it was too late. he was already gone.

As soon as he had left, my mood drastically changed. I was suddenly upset with myself. Everyone I had ever hurt came to mind. Mark being one of them. Mark was the only person I swore I'd ever have feelings for. No one could ever take his place. My "death" caused him so much suffering and now this? I was getting married to the president's grandson and I still had feelings for Mark. I was a terrible person and a terrible friend.

I dressed in pajamas and climbed under the sheets of my bed. Tears slipped out of my eyes. I was extremely frustrated with myself for feeling the way I did about Atlas. I cried for my district, I cried for my siblings, I cried for Mark. Before I fell asleep, I promised myself I'd keep a special place in my heart for my home, Mark, and all of the things that mattered the most to me.

* * *

**I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I finally (somewhat) got rid of my writer's block! I hope to see you all in the next chapter, please stick around for more! Thanks for reading!**


End file.
